[Elecraft] Phonema Speaker for K3

[Wayne Burdick]

Every compact (low-profile), non-powered, front-facing speaker I've ever tested with the K3 has fallen short of the K3's own built-in speaker performance at low audio frequencies. The speaker in the top cover has the benefit of a very large planar mounting surface. It is also very sensitive (95 dB SPL, 1 kHz @ 1 m). Finally, the top-cover orientation reinforces sound when the radio is operated near a wall.

External speakers that are relatively tall, such as 8"Hx4Wx4D" bookshelf speakers, can perform as well as the internal speaker as long as their resonating enclosures are large enough, and/or have some sort of acoustic porting to make up for small geometry. But they also need good sensitivity if unpowered. They can be very inexpensive and look great with the K-Line.

Front-facing, non-powered speakers the same height as the K3 that sound just as good at the low frequency end may be a theoretical possibility, but I haven't found any yet.

73,
Wayne
N6KR